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Section 31
Section 31 is a secretive organization in the Star Trek franchise. Established shortly after the founding of the United Earth government, this agency is a rogue division of Starfleet. Its mission has been to protect Earth, and later the United Federation of Planets, by whatever means it possibly can. As such, Section 31 does not operate within the boundaries set by the Starfleet Charter. History 22nd century Section 31 has existed ever since the founding of Starfleet in the 2140's. The organization's title came from the original Starfleet Charter, Article 14, Section 31, which allowed for extraordinary measures to be taken in times of extreme threat. At some point before 2151, a young Ensign Malcolm Reed was recruited by Section 31 through former Starfleet Security officer Harris. By the time Reed was posted to Enterprise NX-01, he was no longer actively involved in covert operations. However, in late 2154, when Reed was investigating the kidnapping of Doctor Phlox, he was contacted by Harris again. Harris' organization had entered into a secret agreement with Klingon Fleet Admiral Krell, in which Harris facilitated Phlox's forcible transportation to a Klingon colony to help in finding a cure for the Klingon augment virus in exchange for a mutually beneficial alliance. Harris ordered Reed to slow down Enterprise's investigation until Phlox could develop a cure. Reed complied, but his tampering was discovered by Captain Jonathan Archer and Commander T'Pol, and Reed was thrown in Enterprise's brig. T'Pol reconstructed Reed's communication logs and discovered that he had been in contact with Harris. When confronted with this information, Reed confessed that he had been following Harris' orders. Captain Archer was very hurt by this revelation at first. Archer told Malcolm that he knew how loyal Malcolm was to the ship and to the captain personally and empathized with him about the extreme difficulty of the quandary he had faced by having his loyalties divided. Later, Archer had Reed put him in contact with Harris, and Harris told Archer that if Phlox was successful, the Klingon Empire would stabilize, an outcome that would be quite favorable for Starfleet. Archer remained suspicious of Harris' motives. After the plague was cured, Harris contacted Reed again, but Reed rebuffed him, declaring that he only answered to one commanding officer: Jonathan Archer. 23rd century Around the 2230s, Section 31 discovered that the Klingons were researching time travel. Believing itself to be in a temporal arms race, the Daedalus Project was developed in the hopes of gaining a strategic advantage. Involved in this project were Leland, and Mike and Gabrielle Burnham. The Burnhams were on the verge of testing a time suit on Doctari Alpha, when it was believed destroyed in a Klingon terror raid. During this period, Section 31 also had at least one operative on Qo'noS. By the mid-23rd century, Section 31 operated with some level of oversight from Starfleet. All admirals uploaded reports to Control, an artificial intelligence threat assessment system. They were known to use a black version of the Starfleet insignia which functioned as combadges. During this period, Section 31 was using an abandoned penal colony as its headquarters. The facility also hosted the data center housing Control. Eventually, Control would turn renegade and take control of Section 31, killing many of its leadership. After the destruction of Section 31 Headquarters, Starfleet ordered all Section 31 ships to search their systems for any evidence of Control. Soon after USS Discovery and NCIA-93 arrived at Essof IV, Agent Leland was captured by Control in order to hijack his body. Burnham and Spock explored a Section 31 vessel that had delayed a transmission, found it adrift, with all of its crew except one killed by Control. This was a trap designed to infect Burnham to provide Control access to the Sphere data. However, Burnham and Spock managed to kill the nanotechnology infected crewmember and retake the vessel.Soon after, the Discovery was surrounded by thirty two Section 31 ships, almost all of its fleet, commanded by Control. After the apparent destruction of Discovery, Christopher Pike blamed Section 31 for the whole catastrophe. Starfleet Command promised to reform Section 31 to make it more transparent; they named Ash Tyler as its new commander, as both his unique dual existence as Tyler and Voq and his rational thinking made him ideal for the job. 24th century In 2374, Section 31 attempted to recruit the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space 9, Doctor Julian Bashir, after putting him through psychological testing on the holodeck of a ship to which he had been abducted. Subjecting Bashir to an elaborate deception designed to test his loyalty to the Federation, Section 31 operative Luther Sloan presented himself to Bashir as the Deputy Director of Starfleet Internal Affairs, and placed Bashir in a scenario wherein it appeared that he had defected to the Dominion. Eventually, Sloan became convinced of Bashir's loyalty and, citing his genetically engineered background and fascination with spy stories, offered him a position within Section 31. Bashir, appalled at the thought of an organization that was not accountable to anyone and regularly violated the very principles and core values upon which the Federation had been founded, declined Sloan's offer, although Section 31 continued to regard him as a potential asset. After the agency returned him to Deep Space 9, Bashir alerted the station's senior staff – including his commanding officer, Captain Benjamin Sisko, and Bajoran Militia officers Major Kira Nerys and Constable Odo – of Section 31's existence and its attempt to recruit him. Sisko advised Bashir to accept Section 31's offer to join them, should they ask again, so that Bashir could spy on the organization for Sisko. In mid-2375, Sloan resurfaced and assigned Bashir to diagnose the health of Koval, Chairman of the Tal Shiar, during an upcoming conference on Romulus. In the course of his efforts to expose Section 31, Bashir discovered that he had actually been manipulated by Sloan into convincing Romulan Senator Kimara Cretak to access Koval's personal database, on suspicions that Section 31 planned to assassinate Koval. This gave Koval sufficient evidence to have Cretak arrested and charged with treason, which assured his own seat on the powerful Continuing Committee. Bashir learned that Koval was an agent of Section 31 after discovering Starfleet Admiral William Ross' complicity in the scheme. It seemed Section 31 had been planning for what it regarded as a likely war with the Romulan Star Empire following the Dominion War. The agency projected that the Dominion was likely to end up confined to the Gamma Quadrant with the Cardassian Union occupied and left in shambles, and the Klingon Empire left to spend at least ten years rebuilding from the damage left by the Klingon-Cardassian War, the Federation-Klingon War of 2372 to 2373, and the Dominion War itself. Section 31 regarded Cretak as a potential threat to the Federation in the post-war Alpha Quadrant, as her primary loyalties were to the Star Empire's interests, while Koval could be counted on to influence Romulus in the Federation's favour. Admiral Ross attempted to defend his actions to Bashir by stating that the high cost of the war justified the extreme measures being taken, but Bashir refused to concede that the ends justified the means. Ross responded by dismissing Bashir from his office and forbidding him from repeating and otherwise acknowledging their conversation. Later that year, while researching the morphogenic virus that was ravaging the Great Link and Odo, Bashir discovered that Section 31 had actually engineered the disease and deliberately infected Odo during a visit to Starfleet Medical three years previously, in a preemptive attempt to neutralize the threat posed by the Founders and the Dominion. Despite the risk that a cure for the disease might reach the Changelings and thus not only strengthen them but also continue the genocidal war they had initiated, Bashir decided to still pursue the matter and find a cure to help Odo. He lured Sloan to Deep Space 9 with false claims of having developed a cure. Sloan, who was committed to the cause of protecting Federation and Starfleet interests at all costs, committed suicide in an attempt to prevent the cure from being discovered. Unable to revive him, Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien used a multitronic engrammatic interpreter to link their minds to Sloan's, in order to finally retrieve the information before Sloan's brain injuries rendered him brain dead. In his mindscape, Sloan attempted to distract Bashir with Section 31's secrets in order to take them with him, but O'Brien got the doctor refocused on their task, and they unlinked their minds from Sloan in time. After the cure was discovered, the Federation Council decided against sharing it with the Founders, an act that Odo likened to abetting genocide. The cure was later given to the Female Changeling by Odo as a condition for surrendering her forces and ending the war. These events ruined the organization's plan to eradicate the Founders. The Changeling's surrender ended the war and allowed the Founders to live. Odo eventually returned to the Great Link to distribute the cure to the rest of the Founders, saving his people. Known operatives 22nd century * Matthew Harris - A high-ranking member of Starfleet Security. In the 2150's, he attempted to bridge the gulf between Earth and the Klingon Empire by arranging the kidnapping of Dr. Phlox and forcing him to work on a cure for the Augment virus afflicting the Klingons. Admiral Krell of the Klingon Defence Fleet had made a deal with Harris, promising to spare the colony on Qu'vat if a cure was found. Krell never intended to honour the agreement, however, but his plans were thwarted by the interference of the Enterprise NX-01. Phlox succeeded in developing a cure, though Harris remained in hiding. 23rd century * Mike Burnham '''- Inventor of the Red Angel suit. * '''Leland - Head of Section 31 and director of the Daedalus Project. He was killed by the artificial intelligence Control which then reanimated his body to use as its vessel. 24th century * Luther Sloan - During the Dominion War, Sloan had interrogated Dr. Julian Bashir of Deep Space 9 to discover if he was a traitor to the Federation. However, he was testing Bashir to see if the genetically-augmented doctor would make a suitable recruitment candidate for Section 31. Towards the end of the war, Bashir lured Sloan back to DS9 in order to gain information that could lead to a cure for the morphogenic virus that was killing Odo. Sloan attempted to kill himself, but Bashir was able to render him comatose and use a Romulan mental probe on him to enter his mindscape and extract the information he needed. Category:Security Agencies Category:Black Ops Category:Star Trek Category:Intelligence Agencies Category:United Federation of Planets